2.Its creation is a monument to the resources of the 8th century Northumbrian Kingdom. Many of the raw materials came from far away. Hundreds of hides were needed for the vellum. A Northumbrian king once gave land for 8 families in return for a single book. But it is far more than just a book.

“this particular book has never been regarded merely as a museum curiosity, of interest only to scholars and connoisseurs, but has kept something of the mystique of a holy relic, even to the twentieth century.”
Janet Backhouse, Curator British Library.

We may now add “ to the twenty first century.” Lord Eatwell, Chairman of the Board of the British Library also recognises that they are an icon. We agree.

3. Saint Cuthbert’s Book. The book is the Word of God. Written by one bishop and dedicated to another. “as a fit monument to preserve the memory of so great a Saint.” The book was closely linked to Saint Cuthbert. It travelled on the 7 year Hegira with the Saint’s uncorrupted body, and the bones of Eadfrith and Aethelwald who made it. The historian Simeon said that it was lost in the sea but recovered through the intervention of Cuthbert. This journey which covered all parts of Northumbria kept alive Christianity and Northumbrian identity at a time of Danish invasion and military defeat. Today over 80 churches are dedicated to St Cuthbert, many at places where the coffin, and probably the gospels, rested. St Cuthbert is the patron saint of the north.

4. The biographer of King Alfred the Great, describes St Cuthbert appearing “holding a gospel book ornamented with Gold and gems.”

5.Book and coffin rested at Chester-le-Street for 113 years; there a gloss was added in Northumbrian English by the provost Aldred, making it the oldest surviving English Bible.

6. That journey finally ended at Durham in. The town and a church were built by the Earl of Northumbria specifically to hold Cuthbert`s body and the Gospels.

7. When the magnificent new Cathedral was ready in 1104, Cuthbert’s body was transferred into it and the Gospels were placed on the Altar beside the Shrine of the saint,

“as a place most worthy of so precious a book brought to light again by his revelation.”

The two were inseparable for over 500 years. There it lay quietly without molestation until the book was plundered at the Reformation.

8. St Cuthbert, his original coffin, his cross (a symbol of the North, and the badge of the Northumbrian Association). and his altar all still lie in Durham. Only the Gospels are missing.